Aidan strictly dedicated ... as usual

COUNTY Kerry was charmed this week to hear Aidan O’Mahony (below) was back on the Garda beat within days of winning RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars.

Those of us who know him best were not in the least surprised by it; in fact he is rarely off duty.

I found that out to my cost last weekend when I was happy for more than one reason that he was still involved in the competition because I knew he would be missing when An Ghaeltacht played Rathmore in the county league last Sunday.

Thing is, it also just happened that we were missing our own world dancing cornerforward champion Tomás Ó Sé who, mysteriously, also got a call-up to take part in last weekend’s show.

We ended up losing and I would not have been in the least surprised if O’Mahony did not have a quite word in a producer’s ear in Donnybrook.

‘If you are in need of a dancer. I know a great one and he is free next Sunday…’ Anyway, I was just thrilled that he won and the manner of it was just typical of him. The competitor in him came out, saving his best dance for last and I was a little taken aback about the furore over his winning of the event. There was much made of how Kerry had rowed in behind one of our own, but if we were that powerful a voting block, Micko would be sitting in Áras an Uachtaráin and Michael Healy-Rae would be steering the country as our Taoiseach.

But what it did show is that the GAA nationwide backed him, partly because of the bond that the association nurtures, but mainly because they recognised the effort he had invested into the popular TV show in order to be the best he could possibly be.

Same as it ever was.